Mood: concerned
(The out-of-tune piano which was left in the house we're renting.)
Yet another blog begins. I wonder how long I can keep this one going?
Anyway.
I had a solo Korean lesson today. We started up the last weekend of August, and we even have some new people--a Korean-American couple and a sophomore from my uni--but only the sophomore and I showed up today. He's in the Beginner class, though, so I was alone in Intermediate. It worked out well, though.. 장지영선생님 and I flew through the lesson, and I got some personal attention. I really need to practice speaking fluently and holding actual conversations. I can understand things when they're said to me (or when I'm eavesdropping, ㅎㅎㅎ), but I have difficulty responding. Not that this is unusual.. I've always had this problem in my language classes.
On the bright side, I learned a few new vocabulary words (퇴근 and 출근, which mean "get off work" and "go to work" respectively) and was forced into having a 100% Korean conversation with my teacher about the languages I want to learn, and why I have no interest in European languages. (ㅋㅋㅋ) She was amused.
--
University has begun again, in case you couldn't tell. I'm now living off-campus with Lynn and Rita, and so far it's going alright. There have been a few little conflicts and annoyances, but nothing big. I have to say, though, being off-campus is 50x better than living in a dorm. I almost wish I had done this earlier, although that would've meant missing out on living in I-House and rooming with the awesome Leila.
Classes are alright.. Since I overloaded a couple of times during my uni career and didn't piddlefart around with my requirements, I only have to take three classes this semester. Two are 300-levels--Race and Racism with Springwood and The Chinese Revolution with Lutze--and the third is Chinese 201. Very exciting. I'm also taking Fitness Walking, but it's almost over already, and it doesn't count as a real class anyway.
My first exams are already coming up. Springwood's is a multiple-choice/short-answer exam on Tuesday, while Lutze's is a take-home essay exam for Wednesday. I'm actually quite excited to begin writing Lutze's exam... I always have fun with his papers.
--
I've begun to think about my future after graduation. I don't know what I want, and that scares me.
A lot of people are just like, "Well, go teach English! All the cool kids are doing it." The problem is, I think I'd suck at being a teacher. I'm barely confident in what I'm good at; what would happen if I was suddenly thrust into a completely different culture where I didn't even speak
I could always go to grad school, I guess. That's what I've been telling people I'm going to do, anyway--go to a Korean grad school and get a Masters in translation. My talents seem to be purely linguistic, anyway; I'm not very good in much else. Maybe I'll pick up a class on oriental art along the way, since I enjoy that.
But after that..what? Do I really want to be a translator? Do I want to stay in Korea, or do I want to come back here? Sometimes I'm tempted to just become a housewife, until I remember that I'd quickly grow stir-crazy from being at home so much. Plus, what Korean man would marry me? Interracial couple with Korean men and foreign women aren't very common. (Not that I'm completely discounting the possibility of marrying a non-Korean.. I'm just saying that's probably what I'd lean towards anyway.)
Argh. THE FUTURE. It nears.
--
On a more cheerful note, I've been watching several period dramas (사극) recently.
The first one, the one that is stealing my soul with its awesomeness, is Tamra, the Island (탐나는 도다). The title actually has three meanings:
o1.탐나는 도다 -The Thing I Want
o2. 탐나는 도다 - Tamra is an Island
o3.탐나는 도다 - My Special Island
...or something like that.
The premise is that this British guy (William, played by French model/actor Pierre Deporte aka 황찬빈) is traveling to Nagasaki with his Japanese best friend (Yan, played by 이선호 from The Snow Queen) when a shipwreck results in him being stranded on Tamra (Chosun-era Jeju Island). There, he meets young diver Jang Beo-jin (played by Seo Woo from Crush and Blush) and exiled nobleman Park Gyu (played by the awesome Im Joo-hwan from The Snow Queen and Frozen Flower). Hilarity and drama ensue.
This. Show. Is. AWESOME. I mean, yeah, it has its flaws, but Seo Woo and Im Joo-hwan have such ridiculously amazing chemistry that everything else fades into the background. Im Joo-hwan is an amazingly talented actor, and I'm seriously amazed that he isn't more popular. (He's already 27, but this is his first leading role, and he's still relatively unknown.)
Unfortunately, 탐나는 도다 is doing really poorly ratings-wise (nothing above 6%, I think), so it's been shortened from 20 episodes to 16. This makes me depressed and angry, because there are parts in the recent episodes where you can tell they had to edit quickly. They filmed this drama almost a year ago.. Why couldn't MBC just let them finished airing it? Argh, whatever. Luckily, though, the full version is scheduled to air in Japan in October, which means that all of the episodes should be on the DVD. This is one boxset I'd be willing to shell out the big bucks for.
Another show I'm in love with is Return of Iljimae (돌아온 일지매). Gorrrrrrrrrrgeous! Jung Il-woo is wonderful in the title role, and everything about this drama is so precise and detailed.. Even if you have no interest in the story, you have to respect the cast and crew for the dedication they had towards this drama.
돌아온 일지매 finished airing awhile ago, but I've only just now gotten up the courage to start it--it's 24 episodes, which is pretty long compared to the dramas I usually watch. Not nearly as long as a true 사극, but still long. (돌아온 일지매 and 탐나는 도다 are both "fusion sageuks," which means they have modern elements like comedy and intrigue thrown in with the historical stuff. 돌아온 일지매 in particular has a lot of wire work for its martial arts stunts.)
..I think I'm done rambling about dramas now. I think I'll just end this post now. Perhaps I'll go for a bike ride, since my father was nice enough to buy me a new bike. I've named her Penelope; I'll call her Penny for short.
Pictures later.
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